Officially just over a year in business, Sweet Baby Rae’s Sourdough has drawn devoted followers who can’t wait to order sourdough loaves, scones, bagels, and other baked goods.
Named after her 7-year-old daughter Raelynn—Rae for short, Sweet Baby Rae’s Sourdough is the creation of Kristin Fontaine of Holyoke. “When she was a baby, we called her sweet baby Rae,” says Kristin, who notes that it seemed the perfect name for the business. Although she has always loved to bake, Kristin didn’t envision having a cottage bakery that would attract fans throughout the area.
In 2024, she learned how to make sourdough bread and began sharing loaves with friends and family. Although they tasted good, Kristin says, “They did not always look fantastic.” She worked at perfecting how the breads looked. “I’m an artist,” she adds. Kristin’s artistic talent has been honed at her painting business, Fontaine Painting and Flooring, which she founded in 2015, after her last year of college, and still runs. She was four years sober, following some tumultuous years of drug and alcohol use. Today she is celebrating 15 years of sobriety.
The response from friends and family to the early loaves of sourdough bread was so enthusiastic that by last year, her kitchen was certified as a cottage kitchen, a micro bakery, which meant she could begin selling the breads and scones. She created a Sweet Baby Rae’s Sourdough Facebook page with an ordering link, and the business took off. Kristin soon added sourdough scones, then baguettes, and sourdough sandwich bread, which contains olive oil and honey to make it very soft. Always looking for what’s next, Kristin added cookies, cinnamon rolls, bagels, and English muffins to the mix—all made with sourdough. She sells her products at farmers’ markets and other events, even having pop ups at what she calls The Bread Shed in her backyard.
As much as possible, Kristin sources ingredients locally. Peaches and apples come from Seidel’s in Holyoke, and the blueberries in her blueberry lemon scones come from the 17 blueberry bushes in her backyard. She also grows the rosemary for her Garlic Rosemary Sourdough loaves. “I stick with whole, organic ingredients,” she notes.
People wait for the next “bake” as Kristin calls it, because you can’t just order anytime. Her baking is often sandwiched in between painting jobs. All ordering is through the Sweet baby Rae’s Facebook page, which is where to look for announcements about each bake.
“People get excited when they hear I am doing a bake,” Kristin says. The baking menu changes, but the classic sourdough loaf is a staple. In rotation are both sweet and savory bread options—Italian herb and cheddar, cinnamon raisin, dill and white cheddar, vanilla cinnamon swirl, cheddar jalapeno, and caramelized onion asiago.
For the holiday season, pumpkin, apple cinnamon, and maple pecan scones are on the menu along with cranberry feta thyme loaf and sourdough pull-apart rolls. Thanksgiving orders close Saturday, November 21, with pick up by Wednesday, November 23.